Monday, August 1, 2011

Hamburger Steaks and Gravy

I guess if you wanted, you could call these Salisbury Steaks (without the mushrooms). But growing up, my Mom just called them Hamburger Steaks. Sometimes folks refer to them as the poor man's steak. Such a simple and satisfying meal (and easy on the wallet). Whatever you call it, I loved them and still do. I remember my Dad would groan whenever my Mom made this or meatloaf. Something about ground beef in any sort of loaf form just made my Dad cringe. Obviously a meat patty did him wrong at some point in his life.

Now, my father-in-law is a different story. He's a simple kind of guy and he just adores this meal and he loves meatloaf. He can't get enough. He's the rare man that will actually order meatloaf at a restaurant. He's also the kinda guy you just love to feed because you never have to ask if he's enjoying a meal since he is always generous with his compliments. I remember when my in-laws, Chris and Gene (my father-in-law is Big Gene and my husband is referred to as Little Gene, even though he ain't anywhere near little anymore), came to visit us when we were living in England. They had never come to visit us in our own place before. My husband and I had only been married a year and this was our first place together. And overseas of all places! I decided I would make us lasagna for dinner on their first night there. I had no idea my in-laws did not care for lasagna. Who doesn't like lasagna?

Apparently Chris and Big Gene. Well, God bless them, they ate their slices of lasagna and never said a word. Afterwards, my father-in-law said that the lasagna was really good and he was surprised. That's when Chris and Gene told me they had never enjoyed lasagna before. If looks could kill, my husband would have died a thousand deaths that day. How come he never told me they didn't eat lasagna? Apparently he didn't know this little fact about his parents. Ugh. Well, they were converted after that. My father-in-law still asks for it to this day. And he never complains if I decide to make meatloaf or hamburger steaks for supper. In fact, he gets very happy. He just loves the stuff! You can customize these anyway you prefer. I like green peppers and onions in mine but Little Gene {giggles} likes his without.

Ingredients:

For the patties:

1 pound ground beef

1/3 cup crushed crackers (or bread crumbs)

1 egg

½ green pepper, diced

½ small yellow onion, diced

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

For the gravy:

1 package Brown Gravy

1 can French Onion Soup (low sodium)

1 can Cream of Chicken soup (low sodium)

¼ cup water

Directions:

In a bowl, combine ingredients for patties. It’s best to just get in there with your hands to make sure it is combined together well. Heat sauté pan (or cast iron skillet) on medium-high heat. Begin forming hamburger steaks into an oval shape (this recipe makes 4). If you aren’t using a nonstick skillet, you may want to spray pan with nonstick spray.

Place patties onto preheated pan. Brown both sides. You aren’t going to cook them all the way through. Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side.

Take browned patties out of pan and set aside. Add all the gravy ingredients to the pan and whisk together well to remove most of the lumps.

(Brown Gravy Mix)

(French Onion Soup)

(Cream of Chicken Soup)

It will take a minute or two of whisking to get most of the lumps out.

Add patties back to pan.

Spoon a bit of the gravy over the tops of the patties.

Cover and turn heat down to a lower setting.

Let cook for another 10 minutes or so until cooked all the way through.

48 comments
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I've loved this since I was a little girl! In the 60's, my grade school served this for lunch. This was back in the day when school lunches were actually homemade food. It was always served with mashed potatoes, peas and a roll. I still eat it like this today.

Big Gene sounds like my father. Ground meat is his favorite thing. If there is meatloaf on a menu, he is ordering it! He and my mom have gone on over 30 cruises. With all the wonderful, fancy food cruises serve, my dad will always ask for them to just bring him a hamburger. LOL

Hamburger Steaks, salisbury steaks, meatloaf are just a few of my very favorite things, Brandie! Yours looks absolutely delicious, as usual. BTW...your cherry limeade was a HUGE hit in the house. I had to restock for another batch. It didn't last long. Thank you! :)

Your version looks really good - this is one of my hubby's favorite meals and the first one he learned to cook for himself in college. He likes to slop sauteed onions all over his - so good. And he serves them with mashed, AND pork and beans. A weird combo, but he loves it.

Great story! We used to have these as a kid, but we didn't get a sauce to put on them. Not sure why, I know my dad isn't much into sauce, maybe that is why. I remember eating it with ketchup :) This looks MUCH better!

What a delicious, comforting dinner recipe. I love hamburger steaks and gravy, and I like that you used some french onion soup to give it more flavor.

If you’d like, I wanted to invite you to share your best recipes over at my new party, Recipe Sharing Monday at Jam Hands. I’m going to be featuring my favorite submissions during the week and I’d love it if you’d join in the fun. :O)

Love the stories about your family, they always bring a smile! But who doesn't like lasagna? It's one of those things you make when you don;t know what to make because it's just assumed everybody likes it. Little Gene could have been more forthcoming, but it sounds like you made some converts.. must be good lasagna. And Good hamburger steaks. Adam considers gravy the most essential part of any meal, so he's going to be very happy with this!

Brandie, I just LOVE stopping by here! I remember Salisbury Steak...Mom never made it, but she sure served it up in a TV dinner. Remember those? Probably wouldn't surprise you that my favorite part was the little square section of brownie. Shame on Lil' Gene for not disclosing that lasagna fact, but you charmed the inlaws over. Way to go!

These sound great. Totally reminds me of a meal my Dad would eat. Too funny about the 'Big Gene' and 'Little Gene' My Dad is 'Big Brad' and my step-brother is 'Little Brad' We've been calling them both those names for 20 years : )

Hello, I am a new visitor on Country Cook and must say I love it. I fixed the Hamburger steak with Brown Gravy and it was wonderful. My husband said that it was great and that he could make a pig of himself on it.. I took a plate of it with boiled potato's and boiled squash to my next door neighbor for her supper and she said that it was really good. Love your site.

Hi Yvonne! Thank yo so much for taking the time come back here & let me know that you enjoyed this recipe. It really makes my day to hear that! I hope you'll find lots more recipe that you and your family will love!

Hi Brandie, I am new to your blog and I love it! Just really good down-to-earth recipes. I have spent so much time just reading recipes I don't know what I want to make first. I know this is a big time commitment on your part so thanks so much for sharing.

I just made this and doubled the recipe for company. The patties fell apart. I made mashed potatoes to go with it and it did taste great over them, but I really wanted steak patties. Oh well. I do love it! I just wondered if there is something different you need to do to double the recipe?

You are a Country Cook for sure! I have cooked for more than 55 years and am considered a good cook. However, I have just printed out at least 10 of your recipes! I'm anxious to try them on Hubby who loves good food. Thank you, thank you!

Made this last night and it was delish!! I added mushrooms because I can eat mushrooms with anything. Made buttered potatoes with onions and corn. Hubby and I both loved it. Thanks for the great recipe.

I made the patties ahead of time and let them sit in the fridge for a bit so they would stay firm. I let them simmer in the gravy for about an hour on low heat. I had no problems with them falling apart. Will definately make again!

This was so easy and amazing!! My husband was very concerned about putting the cream of chicken and french onion soup in the gravy, but he loved it too! I always have these ingredients, except the french onion soup, on hand-- so the actual patties and gravy only cost us $1 beyond our pantry items. We made this with corn homemade mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls! Delish!

I just picked up a two pound pack called "market style ground beef" and it is so lean I wanted to do something special with it. For grilling burgers the fatter the better but the really lean stuff is great for the other uses. This stuff was $3.49 a pound which was cheaper then their pale looking hamburger and $2.00 a pound cheaper than ground chuck and looked better!

I was torn between hamburger steaks and gravy and Stroganoff "helper" so I decided to do both!

I liked your onions and peppers inside the steaks and since I had some cut up Vidalia onion and three of the small red and yellow "sweet peppers" (they still seem bitter to me) I decided to follow your directions with few changes to use what I had on hand.

My biggest decision now is quantity to make with a pound, fist was two biggies, then four, I have just decided three will be perfect!

I love hamburger steaks! I just make simple burger patties (we use antelope or deer) with only some seasonings and Worcestershire sauce. I saute up some onions and mushrooms to put over the top with brown gravy, made of just water and dry brown gravy mix. I always serve them with mashed potatoes and usually another veggie like corn or green beans. Yum!!